1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a tourmaline product and particularly to making use of innumerable permanent electrodes fine powders of tourmaline have. More particularly, the present invention is concerned with a permanent electrode carrier.
2. Prior Art
In 1988, the present inventor has discovered that a tourmaline crystal can maintain a pair of electrodes with no supply of external electric energy, which may be said to be permanent electrodes. This appears to be just tantamount to the permanent magnetic poles of a magnet. In the case of a tourmaline crystal of normal size, some difficulty is involved in measuring or otherwise detecting the nature of these electrodes. The inventor could have casually demonstrated this through some experiments using fine crystals reduced to a size of about 3 microns.
The inventor filed a patent application for this discovery, now laid open for public inspection under JP-A-1-257130 and, with this, put an article about the details in a journal "Solid Physics", Vol. 24-12, 1989. Since then, the inventor has presented some articles in some academia including the Physical Society as well as in some scientific journals. This theory has also be confirmed by experimental researches at national universities and institutions. Products making use of this property of tourmaline are being used in every application, as disclosed typically in JP-A-26449 and JP-A-4-122925, both filed by the inventor. The term "permanent electrode" that corresponds to the permanent poles of a magnet is coined by the inventor. This is because this phenomenon could not have been clarified by conventional physics; in other words, there is no proper term for explaining this phenomenon. What is technically described by this term is now defined in the present disclosure.
In 1925, fifty eight years preceding 1988 in which the inventor discovered this nature of tourmaline, O. Heavside or Dr. Eguchi, Japan, already discovered that when a mixture of a certain molten wax with molten resin is slowly solidified in a direct-current, high electric field, electrostatic charges remain on and in the wax even after field removal, and these residual charges can be maintained over an extended period of time, if they are placed under good conditions. This, because of appearing to correspond to permanent magnets due to magnetism, was called an electret.
Since then, many inorganic and organic dielectric materials have been found to be capable of becoming electrets and numerous studies have been made so as to bring them into practice. These materials must have an electric resistance value of 10.sup.12 .OMEGA..multidot.cm or higher. This is because the positive and negative charges are neutralized with time and eventually attenuate. To prepare an electret, a certain substance is heated to set the internal ions or dipoles free. Then, an external direct-current field is applied to the substance for ion migration or dipole orientation. Finally, the substance is cooled and solidified to keep the dielectric substance polarized. Alternatively, an electret may be fabricated by exposing the substance to light or radiation, thereby keeping it in a polarized state where electrons and holes occur instead of ions or dipoles.
At the beginning, the inventor took the permanent electrodes of tourmaline as a kind of electret. This misunderstanding is typically reflected in JP-A-63-222559. However, later studies have indicated that the electric polarization of an electret is quite different from the mechanism of why tourmaline forms electrodes. Set out below are the major reasons.
1. The electrodes of tourmaline can be formed in the absence of any external electric field.
2. At normal temperature the electrodes of tourmaline are not affected by an external electric field.
3. The electrodes of tourmaline are not affected by atmospheric temperature or the presence of water, and so do not attenuate. When placed in water, the electrodes of tourmaline gives rise to the electrolysis of water which is weak but sufficient to generate hydrogen gas and so make an electric current. This phenomenon is substantial evidence of the presence of electrodes, rather than electric poles taking part in electrode decomposition.
4. The electrodes of tourmaline, typically those of schorl, disappear when maintained at high temperatures lying roughly between 950.degree. C. and 1,000.degree. C. Such temperatures show the intensity of energy with which the electrodes of tourmaline are maintained.
5. Most electrets have an electrical resistance of 10.sup.12 .OMEGA..multidot.cm or higher. An electret, because of being formed by the electric polarization of dielectric material, will be electrically neutralized easily and disappear, unless it has such a high electrical resistance value. On the other hand, the electrical resistance value of a tourmaline crystal is of the order of 10.sup.10 .OMEGA..multidot.cm to 10.sup.11 .OMEGA..multidot.cm that are at least two-digit lower than that of a substance forming an electret. Nonetheless, the tourmaline crystal does not lose the property of maintaining electrodes even at high temperatures of 900.degree. C. to 1,000.degree. C. Moreover, the tourmaline crystal electrolyzes water at a voltage lower than its electrolysis voltage to generate hydrogen gas, which is clear evidence of the presence of electrodes.
In view of the facts mentioned above, it is tourmaline which is to be called in the name of electret and tourmaline can be said to be worthy of a permanent electret. However, since the name of electret has already be an established technical term for referring to other substance, it appears to be required that tourmaline be called in another name to avoid terminological confusion or misunderstanding. Moreover, if attention is paid to the fact that the electrodes of tourmaline electrolyze an aqueous electrolyte solution or electrodeposit metal ions from an aqueous metal salt solution, it is considered reasonable to use the term "electrode" for tourmaline, and there will be no fear of that term being confused with the term "electret".
Reference will now be made to how and why the electrodes of tourmaline act. It is first noted that a tourmaline crystal is an ion crystal with the lattice points dislocating from the positions where they are to exist. At present, however, whether such dislocations are due to external or internal reasons in the process of crystal formation is not clarified. In 1880 Pierre Curie and Jacks Curie discovered that the crystal of tourmaline has piezoelectricity. Later, the crystal of tourmaline was also found to have pyroelectricity. Additional studies made by W. C. R ontogen and recent studies made by T. Nakamura, Professor of the University of Tokyo, ret., and now Professor of Tokai University have confirmed that this pyroelectricity of tourmaline is a secondary property caused by crystal distortion due to thermal expansion. As known in the art, the piezoelectricity of tourmaline may give rise to a potential difference in a constant axial direction even under an omnidirectional pressure having no directionality unlike water pressure.
It is not unnatural that tourmaline is a polar crystal member having spontaneous (residual) distortion in its crystal structure, and that a potential difference is considered to have been fixed in a constant axial direction from the beginning. See FIG. 2, in which a stands for the quantity of pyroelecrically electrified charges, b represents a portion having spontaneous charges (making the intensity-voltage of electrodes) corresponding to spontaneous distortion, c denotes spontaneous distortion, d indicates a portion having distortion due to pressure, d' represents the size of distortion corresponding to a, and f stands for the direction of distortion. As a matter of course, this potential difference will not disappear, unless the initial spontaneous distortion responsible for this is removed. The potential difference present within tourmaline transports electrons or charge carriers along it, and the transported electrons are successively stored in the crystal from its one edge, after they have been transported thereto. When external or internal stress is applied to a tourmaline crystal, the crystal lattice distorts in a constant direction, giving rise to charges at the edge of the crystal in this direction. This is called pyroelectricity. Even when the crystal is destressed at this time, the distortion remains intact and this is "residual distortion". A potential difference is generated by charges corresponding to this residual distortion. This potential difference in turn generates driving power, across which two electrodes, anode and cathode, are formed.
The electrons, because of having the same negative charges, repel with each other, making it impossible to exceed a certain density; in other words, the electron density increases from one edge of the crystal axis from which the transportation of electrons starts to the other edge at which the transportation of electrons terminates, so that the electron density can be kept constant at the other edge. Thus, a difference in the density of the electrons stored along the specific crystal axis between both edges of the crystal gives rise to a potential difference (voltage) across the crystal. A portion of the edge of high electron density provides a cathode, while a portion of the edge of low electron density provides an anode. See FIG. 3 wherein e stands for electrons.
The electrodes of tourmaline produced through such a process release electrons in water in which it exists, and accepts electrons as much as the lost electrons, thereby maintaining electrode strength. These electrodes produce an external electric field. This means that a pair of electrodes are present on both ends of tourmaline. The energy for various electrode reactions that they exhibit is not extraneously supplied. As already mentioned, this energy is the (elastic) energy of the distortion stored within tourmaline itself. In the case of schorl, it is only after it is heated to about 950.degree. C. to 1,000.degree. C. that such energy disappears. This phenomenon is analogous to the presence of temperature (Curie temperature) at which the magnetic poles of a magnet disappear, although differing in mechanism.
At normal temperature the electrodes of tourmaline undergo no change, even when an external electric field is applied to it. In other words, these electrodes behave much like what is called permanent electrodes. This energy is made and stored by the spontaneous distortion of the tourmaline crystal lattice. Then, the energy for transporting charge carriers or electrons through the crystal is supplied by the energy of thermal vibration which the lattice vibration--which is now made asymmetrical due to lattice distortion--has at a finite temperature.
Now, how the electrodes of tourmaline can be used will be explained. The electrodes tourmaline can have many practical applications, some fundamental ones of which will be mentioned just below.
1. Fine tourmaline electrodes may be used to electrolyze water at a voltage lower than the electrolytic voltage (of theoretically about 0.7 volts), thereby making surface active water. This fact has already been proven and confirmed by the academic world, and has been well established as Kubo theory.
2. Some positively charged metal ions with the ionization tendency smaller than that of hydrogen receive electrons from the cathode of tourmaline electrodes, so that they can be electrodeposited on the surface of the cathode to form a metal film. The metal deposited on the cathode surface in this manner may be used for various purposes.
3. If fine tourmaline electrodes are brought in contact with the surface of the human body with the use of some suitable means, then minute currents flow on the surface of the body, giving electric stimuli on the nervous systems and sensory receptors. As a result, there are produced electrical signals which can be used directly or through the brain for increased circulation of the blood and other health-care and medical purposes.
4. This novel discovery that tourmaline has substantially unattenuated electrodes is expected to bring forth novel fundamental technologies by future research.
The tourmaline material used in the present invention will now be explained. The tourmaline material is broken down into some types depending on a difference between metal atoms involved in the molecular structure, with the crystals differing in color. Well-colored crystals of good quality have been made much of as jewel rough stones for a long time. Accordingly, abundantly occurring black schorl or other ores are suitable for industrial purposes.
Tourmaline is generally classified into the following two types depending on what state it occurs in.
1. One type is found in pegmatite and can be easily separated and recovered from it with high purity.
2. The other type is small tourmaline ores scattered in skarn that is a sort of metamorphic rock created by the alternation and modification of surrounding rocks due to high-temperature gases and hot water generated in association with the penetration of igneous rock caused by the action of magma. The amount of tourmaline included in skarn is of the order of 3 to 10%. Tourmaline can be used in the form of particles or powders by pulverizing skarn ores.
A carrier for fine tourmaline crystals will now be explained. When fundamental or applied techniques about tourmaline are used in practical applications, pulverized tourmaline ores may be used in particulate, powdery or bulky forms. To enhance the effect of tourmaline and handle it easily, however, it is often preferable to use a tourmaline carrier fabricated by molding a mixture of a fine powder form of tourmaline with other substances. In many cases, the tourmaline crystals used are of a size lying roughly between a few microns and 0.5 microns. One fine crystal electrode on a surface portion of a carrier with fine tourmaline crystals carried on it takes part in electrode reactions only to a small extent. However, it is noted that the number of tourmaline electrodes present on the surface layer of the carrier is extremely numerous. The substance taking part in the reactions occurring in the electrode reaction system produces an effective action among such numerous fine electrodes.
A carrier material for dispersing and fixing such fine tourmaline must have constant conditions. In the electrode reaction carried out by the carrier on which tourmaline having electrodes is carried, the electrodes perform two functions. One function is to feed (cathodes) and receive (anodes) electrons for the reaction. Another function is to provide the interface between the substance (liquid, gas or solid) and the electrodes of tourmaline carried on the carrier in the form of a reaction site in the reaction system, for the purposes of increasing the efficiency of reaction energy, improving the selectivity of the end reaction, and so on.
FIG. 4 is a partly enlarged side section of the carrier on which permanent electrodes are carried according to the present invention. As can be seen from this figure, it is unlikely that a pair of electrodes of a fine tourmaline crystal 1 come simultaneously to the surface layer of a carrier 2. From the standpoint of probability, it is most likely that either one of the positive and negative electrodes comes to the surface of the carrier. In addition, the electrode present on the surface of the carrier is covered on the surface with the substance forming the carrier 2. However, there is a thickness variation. In a system in which the carrier 2 with tourmaline carried on it is used, electrons are fed from the cathode to the substance to undergo the reaction. The electrons, after the electrode reaction has occurred, are accepted by the anode, from which they are immediately transported through the crystal 1 to the cathode for replenishment. In short, the charges carriers or electrons make an electron circulating loop involving feed (cathode).fwdarw.electrode reaction.fwdarw.(in-system substance).fwdarw.acceptance (anode).fwdarw.transportation (through crystal).fwdarw.replenishment (cathode), whereby electrode energy can be maintained.
In the electron-circulating loop mentioned above, the substance that carries the tourmaline electrodes exists between the substance in the reaction system and the two electrodes. Generally, the carrier 2 belongs to an electrically insulating material. If the electrical resistance value of the carrier 2 should be higher than the electrically insulating resistance value (approximately 5.times.10.sup.10 .OMEGA..multidot.cm) of tourmaline, it would be difficult to transport electrons, resulting in no occurrence of any electrode reaction. To put it another way, there would be an electrically insulated state.
In conclusion, it is required for the occurrence of the electrode reaction that the sum of the electrical resistance values of the carrier 2 present between the individual two tourmaline electrodes and the substance in the reaction system be much smaller than the electrical resistance value of the tourmaline carried in the loop mentioned above. See FIGS. 4 and 6 that are partly enlarged side views of the permanent electrode carriers as well as FIG. 7 that is an electric circuit diagram for illustrating the current flow in the carrier shown in FIG. 6. The electric circuit shown in FIG. 6 is made up of electric circuit components L1 and L2 passing from the crystal 1 of the fine tourmaline powder through a carrier 2 and a substance 3 in the electrical reaction system. As can be seen from FIG. 7, a circuit in a carrier 2 is made up of electrical resistors R1 and R2. Now consider the case where tourmaline having a mean particle size of 3 microns is used, and assume that the inter-electrode distance is again 3 microns. Then, the electrical resistance value of the tourmaline 1 in the longitudinal direction is found to be (5.times.10.sup.10 .OMEGA..multidot.cm).times.(3.times.10.sup.-4 .OMEGA..multidot.cm)=1.5.times.10.sup.7 .OMEGA..multidot.cm with the proviso that the volume resistance value of a tourmaline crystal is 5.times.10.sup.10 .OMEGA..multidot.cm.
On the other hand, assume that the electrical resistance value of the substance forming the carrier 2 is .alpha..OMEGA..multidot.cm and that the sum of the lengths occupied by the carrier substance between the two electrodes of one tourmaline piece and the substance in the system is 1. To transfer electrons by the distance corresponding to this length 1, it is then required that the value given by a .alpha..times.1 .OMEGA..multidot.cm be much smaller than the electrical resistance value of each tourmaline piece. If 1 is 10 cm (10 microns), then .alpha.=10.sup.7 /1=10.sup.10 .OMEGA..multidot.cm. According to the present invention, a material having a small-enough resistance value lying in the range of 10.sup.10 .OMEGA..multidot.cm/100 to 10,000 is suitable for the carrier 2. This value varies depending on the particle size and quantity of tourmaline in the carrier. Practically, it is preferable to make a tourmaline carrier and measure the electrode strength, thereby estimating it in relative terms.
Other requirements for the tourmaline carrier will now be explained.
1. The carrier for tourmaline must have a suitable degree of direct-current electrically insulating properties. Materials of good conductivity such as metals cannot be used, because the electrodes per se will disappear.
2. The carrier for tourmaline must have a suitable electrical resistance value. The reason is that, when tourmaline is carried on a material having a resistance value higher than that of a tourmaline crystal (approximately 10.sup.10 to 10.sup.11 .OMEGA..multidot.cm), the tourmaline electrodes lose their functions, because it is substantially unlikely that electrons flow, or are transported, between the electrodes in the reaction system due to the presence of the material having such a high resistance value between the substance in the system which undergoes the cathode-anode reaction and the electrodes. In this connection, it is noted that the "electrical resistance value" does not mean only the inherent electrical value of the solid substance forming the carrier. To put it another way, the term "electrical resistance value", when a plurality of solid substances are used in a mixture form, is understood to mean the total of the electrical resistance values of the individual substances.
Mixtures of more than two ceramic materials with tourmaline powders may be granulated and thermally treated to form carriers. In some of these carriers, the grain boundary may provide an electron transporting path, although depending on the electrical properties of the grain boundary. This is even true of when the electrical resistance value of each ceramic material is higher than that of tourmaline. In some cases, "a potential difference is made along the grain boundary", when the electrical resistance value of the portion of the grain boundary is small-enough, or "due to the presence of the grain boundary formed by materials with varying dielectric constants and the electrode surface" --Takagi theory, thereby producing driving power for transporting electrons.
Some materials such as fibrous materials with a high electrical resistance value, when having a high water content due to the presence of internal micropores, may have an electrical resistance value of approximately 10.sup.7 .OMEGA..multidot.cm to 10.sup.8 .OMEGA..multidot.cm. Preferable examples include rayon, which can be effectively used as a tourmaline carrier. On the other hand, plastics, rubber or coating materials, usually because of having an electrical resistance value as high as 10.sup.12 .OMEGA..multidot.cm to 10.sup.18 .OMEGA..multidot.cm, cannot immediately used as a tourmaline carrier. However, various materials may be used as a tourmaline carrier, if their apparent electrical resistance values are reduced by incorporating in them slight quantities of materials of good conductivity such as carbon black, graphite, metals, metallic compounds or semiconductor materials.
The size and quantity of tourmaline powders to be used with the tourmaline carrier may be determined with the following conditions in mind.
Tourmaline has a Mohs hardness of about 7.5. Tourmaline material having such hardness is finely divided by dry pulverization techniques. In view of economical considerations, the lower limit of particle size is a mean particle size of about 3 microns. Much lower particle size must rely on classification or wet pulverization, resulting in some considerable increase in the pulverization cost. Tourmaline material, when carried on ceramics, coating materials, plastics or the like, may have a mean particle size of about 3 microns due to their relatively large size and thickness.
In most cases, commercially available products are used for fibrous or rubber carrier materials. To maintain the mechanical strength of a commercial product, powdery tourmaline used with it must be small enough in size; that is, powdery tourmaline must be reduced to about 1 to 0.3 microns by wet pulverization.